Savage axis 223 doesn't have any rifling at muzzle. **update**

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leeaspell

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So I picked up this Axis compact in 223 over the weekend from an oldtimer who bought it for is granddaughter but she had no interest in it, said he fired it 4 times which would make sense given the 4 rounds missing out of one of the boxes of ammo he included, the thing was basically new in box with shipping oil still on it so I had no reason to not believe him.

Long story short I take it out yesterday and it's shooting minute of pie plate, all over the place. Take it home, check scope rings and bases, all right. Give it a good clean, check the muzzle and there's no rifling in the last inch of the barrel, looks like it was ever cut to the end? When you look in there's a very distinct end to the rifling, it will swallow an entire 22lr with no resi20240924_141532.jpg20240924_141505.jpgstance . . What are my options here, cut and crown? Counter bore? New Barrel
 
At this point I would cut 1.25 inches and recrown
May also at the same time look into a savage pre-fit barrel
Not uncommon for salvage quality had two Savage 12 FV's in one of the barrels the rifling was very rough just past the throat the other barrel the rifling looked bad/rough about an inch before the muzzle. Pulled the barrels and sold the actions.
 
Can you get a picture of the muzzle? I wanna see what this looks like!

First thing I'd do is contact Savage just to see what they say about it.

After that, I'd be cutting it back far enough to get to the rifling, then recrowning it. I think the compact model has a 20" barrel? So that gives you just under 2" you could cut before you have to think about a new barrel.
 
Suther said:
Can you get a picture of the muzzle? I wanna see what this looks like!

First thing I'd do is contact Savage just to see what they say about it.

After that, I'd be cutting it back far enough to get to the rifling, then recrowning it. I think the compact model has a 20" barrel? So that gives you just under 2" you could cut before you have to think about a new barrel.
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20240924_165254.jpgits hard to get a good pic but this one you can see the ring where the rifling ends
 
You most likely got taken in the deal . Good chance the original owner who ever that was did it. No guarantee the person you bought it from as the original owner and that it only fired 4 shots.
 
That bore and what you are measuring - think old days - had a billet of steel - drill/ ream a hole through there - that was the "bore" size - eventually was top face of the rifling. Then cutters were inserted - often pulled and rotated - to give twist rate - differed from one cartridge to another, but typical that most 30 calibre bores got groove depth of 0.004" - so bullet size was 0.300" (top to top of rifling), plus 0.008" (two grooves - one on each side) - so a 0.308" diameter bullet is fairly standard for a 0.300" bore. By measuring as you are showing - you are measuring to what is or will be the top of the rifling - the actual desired size is found by "slugging" - you want to know what the groove to groove dimension is, not the rifling to rifling dimension.

If you want to find actual SAAMI dimensions - what that barrel should be - what your .22 shell case should be - go to SAAMI.org and see their drawings.
 
Folks with bore scopes get the heebee-geebies when checking Savage barrels, and for good reasons. 😱

Savage never took the time to invest in proper tooling & methods needed to get good results with button rifling. They definitely suck at QC do to their corporate mindset to move as much product as possible. I've not bothered with Savage rifles for yrs now. Me last one was a model 11 precision carbine in 223 that shot not bad but lacked in overall quality & feel fer me.

Dear Savage;
Get with the Shilen way of making button rifled barrels and have skilled people on the line to get things better for consumers.
Pffft! Like they'd listen these days. 🙄
 
I'm going to check my 223 out. But I need use a 62gr or 69gr bullet or a 5 round group looks like a shot gun blast. These rifles don't seem to like 55gr bullets at all. The twist on mine is 1:9
 
SHELL SHUCKER said:
Folks with bore scopes get the heebee-geebies when checking Savage barrels, and for good reasons. 😱

Savage never took the time to invest in proper tooling & methods needed to get good results with button rifling. They definitely suck at QC do to their corporate mindset to move as much product as possible. I've not bothered with Savage rifles for yrs now. Me last one was a model 11 precision carbine in 223 that shot not bad but lacked in overall quality & feel fer me.

Dear Savage;
Get with the Shilen way of making button rifled barrels and have skilled people on the line to get things better for consumers.
Pffft! Like they'd listen these days. 🙄
Click to expand...
They're not pretty, but generally speaking Savage rifles shoot very well. I'm not really sure what you're trying to get at?
 
Raton57 said:
You most likely got taken in the deal . Good chance the original owner who ever that was did it. No guarantee the person you bought it from as the original owner and that it only fired 4 shots.
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It's weird tho, it doesn't look like tools have been used in it. The part without rifling is bluedike the rest of the barrel
 
Raton57 said:
You most likely got taken in the deal . Good chance the original owner who ever that was did it. No guarantee the person you bought it from as the original owner and that it only fired 4 shots.
Click to expand...
I dunno, like it looks and smells like new lol. The action doesn't even have a mark on it from any amount of use, and I'm usually a pretty good judge of character, buddy didn't seem sketch or greasy in the least, but ya never know I guess
 
Suther said:
They're not pretty, but generally speaking Savage rifles shoot very well. I'm not really sure what you're trying to get at?
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He’s saying that they are low end budget class of rifles and sometimes the finished product reflects that, aka you get what you pay for.
leeaspell said:
It's weird tho, it doesn't look like tools have been used in it. The part without rifling is bluedike the rest of the barrel
Click to expand...
Cut it and recrown it you have the extra barrel length to do so.
 
I'd be prodding Savage for a replacement, threaten them with a WWWarning, a thousand negative reviews hurts any company bottom line.
they likly would want it back to inspect butif it is in fact their fault, they should be good for a fix

cut and crown would be a fix if the rest of the barrel can be proved to be decent quality, but that can't be taken for granted
which model Axis? original model were dogs, II and xp are better
 
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